Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-12-22

himself so far as to emit small, fam
! whistle.
..Stop that noise over there" said stem
| voice. the owner of which looked out frol
behind the folds of the evening paper will
a frown. Joseph Rexford was homely
enough. taken at his best, but with an ugly
frown added, he was terrific, though prob
ably not aware of it, for people seldom ge,
before glass to make up ugly faces.
| ''They were only talking a little about
| Christmas said Mrs. Rexford, tim
| idly: the wives of such men are invariably
| timid, or else, in very bravado of despair
| intOlerable scOlds, and Mrs. Rexford could
never be that.
She would have been the sunniest and
| sweetest Of little women, had she not been
clapped under bushel by Joseph Rexford
at very early stage in their married life,
and, as might be supposed, she was pretty
nearly extinguished bv this time.
''Cbristmasr' he growled, contemptuous-
ly. "All nonsense and folly, they'd better be
tendin to their rethmetic or a shellin' them
seeds. had to work evenin's when was
their age, an hadn't no time to be hatchln'
up foolery."
''All work and no play makes Jack dull
boy" gently demonstrated the wife.
They're not too old to enjoy little recrea-
ton, Joseph, and wish we could give them
little Christmas treat" She wondered
afterward at her own holiness, for she did
not often venture within reach of the lions
claws, or, in other words, her husbands dis
pleasure.
He looked at her in establishment; he sup
posed he had her subdued, and the idea that
she could propose any thing that he had just
put his foot on as ''foolery'' shocked him.
'.Mrs. Rexford," and his voice was bit
of condensed harshness, II thought you
knew my mind on sech triflin' years ago,
and l want you to understand once and for
all, wont haze it," and the big foot came
down on the uncarpeted floor with a snap
"And you young ones, stop your snivelin'
over there, or I'll give you something to
SWIVEL about" and the mighty potentate
glared over in tho corner, where little Nan
was struggling with sob of mingled terror
and disappointment, for ut her mothers
kind words it seemed SO easy to have just a
little bit OF Christmas, at least
Darn him" whispered Ted, clnching his
fists, and shaking them at the household
monarch, who had again wrapped himself
in his newspaper. ''l'll run away, see if l
don't, an I'll have a Christmas tree every
day when 1 get big"
His jacket would have needed no further
busting for months to come, if the parent
could have seen the belligerent action, but,
fortunately, the paper was not transparent,
and Mr.. Rexford was deep in an article on
the Irish question.
He looked up presently; he had the COM
placent feeling of the bulldog, who comes
up uppermost in the fight, and could look
upon his vanquished subjects with amiable
condescension. II guess those Britishers
III find they can't always abuse them poor
Irishers." he said. They'll find out, sooner
or later, that it don't pay to aller play the
tyrant."
Mrs. Rexford received the information
with proper degree of humility, and only
subdued, ''hm-m-m,' escaped her lips,
but she thought to herself that it would not
be necessary to cross the ocean to find
tyrant. if one were urgently needed. and
wondered rebelliously if it was always
going to pay him to assume the character
he so deprecated in his British neighbors.
Bedtime came, and Ted and Nan, with
little Jane, crept off toward their beds. No
cheerful, goodnight papa" with the kiss
which sweetens slumber, and ushers the
children into happy dreamland; Mr..
Rexford's soul would have recOiled at such